Wanganui tourist information

The area around the mouth of the Whanganui was a major site of pre-European Maori settlement. When the city of Wellington was established it became an important centre for trade. With the increased number of British settlers arriving in the country, it became a logical site for the establishment of a new town.

The early years of the new town were problematic. Purchase of land from the local tribes had been haphazard and irregular, and as such many Maori were angered with the influx of Pakeha onto land that they still claimed. It was not until the town had been established for eight years that agreements were finally reached between the colonials and local tribes, and some resentment continued (and still filters through to the present day).

Wanganui grew rapidly after this time, with land being cleared for pasture. The town was a major military centre during the Land Wars of the 1860s, although local Maori at Putiki Pa remained friendly to the town's settlers.

Perhaps the city's biggest scandal happened in 1920, when the Mayor, Charles Mackay, shot and wounded a young poet, D'Arcy Cresswell, who had been blackmailing him over his homosexuality. Mackay served seven years in prison and his name was effaced from the city, while Cresswell (himself homosexual) was praised as a "wholesome-minded young man".

It has also been suggested that during the 1970s Wanganui gained a reputation as the 'swingers capital of New Zealand'. Although difficult to substantiate it was local myth that if you were interested in swapping your spouse for the evening then playing squash was the activity for you.

The Whanganui River catchment is seen as a sacred area to Maori, and the Wanganui region is still seen as a focal point for any resentment over land ownership. In 1995, Moutoa Gardens in Wanganui, known to local Maori as Pakaitore, were occupied for 79 days in a mainly peaceful protest by the Whanganui iwi over land claims.

Wanganui was the site of the New Zealand Police Law Enforcement System (LES) from 1976 to 1995. An early Sperry mainframe computer based intelligence and data management system, it was known colloquially as the "Wanganui Computer". The data centre housing the LES was subject to New Zealand's highest profile suicide bombing in 1982 when anarchist Neil Roberts detonated a gelignite bomb in the entry foyer. Roberts was the only casualty of the bombing.